


sleep by the garden gate

by sketchbook henry (bessemerprocess)



Category: Fringe (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe, Female Character Trope Challenge, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 10:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14692437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/sketchbook%20henry
Summary: On the worst day yet, Olivia steps through to another world.





	sleep by the garden gate

**Author's Note:**

> This is all set up, no story. In fact, I have no idea what the story would've even been anymore.

"Olivia, we have to go," slips Peter's voice out of the other Olivia's mouth. He's right, the world is collapsing around them.

Not that her universe isn't collapsing anyway. Charlie is dead and her mom is dead and Lincoln is dead. Peter is dead. And because the universe hates her, he's not as dead as he should be. Instead, he's a ghost in her counterpart's mind, slipping away from them both as his brainwaves disintegrate and leave her alternate alone in her own head.

"I can't hold this much longer," he says, gesturing at the portal he's ripped open for them: her and Henry and his other Olivia. She knows he is talking about his tenuous hold on life as well, so she takes a deep breath, tightens her grip on Henry and steps through into another world. Peter in Olivia follows and then the view of the burning lab and destroyed machine disappears behind them, leaving only trees.

"She'll keep you both safe," he says and then reaches out to touch her face. His hand freezes there for a long moment. When he pulls back his hand, it's not Peter anymore, but Olivia. A month of getting used to looking at her own face across that lab and it still feels wrong, like she's trapped in a fairytale and someday when she looks in the mirror, it will reflect back a face she doesn't recognize.

"He's gone," her other self says, and slumps against a nearby tree. In that month of desperate struggle to save both their universes, back when Peter hadn't existed and things were relatively stable, the Walters had labeled her universe red and the other blue. 

It's surprisingly quiet for the blue universe: just the rustle of leaves and birdsong. Everywhere she's been one both sides this week has been full of explosions and fire and gunshots, and the general lack of apparent danger sets her on edge. Henry stirs and she bounces him on her hip.

The other Olivia pulls out her cell. "Let me just call for a pick up," she says. She looks at her phone again and growls. "No signal. You up for a hike, Red?" The nicknames had stuck early on: red universe, blue universe, Red Olivia, Blue Olivia, but by the end, even Charlie and Lincoln were calling her Red.

"Give me a second," Olivia says, and sits, laying Henry on her lap, so that she can look through the diaper bag Peter had grabbed as they fled. The other Olivia sits beside her, and it is so odd to watch this woman who should be a stranger look at her baby with the same half-smile she gets every time she looks at her son.

The bag contains one ready made bottle and three empties, along with a canister of formula, and five diapers. Henry's favorite blanket and a ragged stuffed bear she doesn't recognize take up a good bit of room, but she finds what she's looking for at the bottom. There's a woven wrap at the bottom, grey and silver and sky blue; it's a work of art all on it's own. It had been a present from Lincoln, who had handed her the package shly and said, "The lady at the baby boutique place told me to buy it. She said it was better than a stroller. You can tie Henry to your back and still have both your hands free to cook or... shoot things?" At the time, she had smiled at Lincoln's complete lack of baby-knowledge, and his ability to be suckered into buying what might have been the most expensive thing in the place. Now, she's wondering if perhaps someone was looking out for her.

It takes both of them, but they get Henry strapped to her chest securely and settled in. The other Olivia swings the diaper bag around her back, where it won't interfere with her holster, and they set off. Between the two of them, they've had a good deal of survival training, but it seems that they won't need it after all. They hit a road after an hour of walking. It's just a two lane thing, not particularly well taken care of, and so they walk down it hoping for a car to appear.

It's Henry that forces them to take a break, in want of food and a diaper change. The blue Olivia find them a comfortable enough rock by the side of the road, and they both perch there while Henry eats.

They're packing up when a Park Service vehicle comes into sight. The woman in the car slows down and pulls over. "How are you liking our fine park, this morning?" the ranger asks.

It's a leading question, Olivia is familiar enough with them coming out of her own mouth. "We were just going to take the baby out for a little walk. Get some fresh air. But I think we're lost," she says, doing her best to look helpless and harmless with Henry tucked in her arms.

"You two are pretty far from the main site. Want a lift back?" the ranger offers.

"Thank you so much," the other Olivia says, and Olivia is just grateful that Peter had been in charge when Olivia got dressed this morning. Her black suit of choice would've looked so much more out of place than the long sleeve gray t-shirt and khakis she's in at the moment.

"I'm Ranger Merton, Anna Merton." Merton opens the back door for Olivia.

"I'm Erin Raleigh, and this is my sister, Kelly, and her son Henry," the other Olivia, or Erin now, says. Olivia would be mad, but those are the same names she would have picked. She'd almost been born Erin Kelly, would have been, if her father hadn't vetoed the idea as too trendy. She's not sure how many times she's heard her mother tell that story, smile marking her face, but it must have been the same for blue Olivia, too. Merton keeps up the conversation as they drive, talking about the trees and rocks they are passing as the drive down the road.

The Ranger's jeep is old, but seems new inside, and it does that job, getting them back to the main parking lot without a hitch. The parking lot is the first inkling that something has gone wrong. All the cars are old, some of them looking like they belong in the 1960s. Olivia is well-verse enough in the blue universe to know this isn't what a parking lot full of cars should contain. Blue Olivia's alertness beside her confirms that the other woman has noticed it, too. Buildings might stay the same for a long period of time, but people always want the latest car.

"Thanks so much for the ride," blue Olivia says to the ranger, and Merton smiles, and waves as she drives off.

"So now what, Erin?" Olivia asks, emphasis on the name.

"Now we check for a cell signal," Erin-Olivia replies, and toggles her phone on. She stares at the screen for longer than necessary before saying, "Nothing. How can there be nothing? State and National Parks have cell towers."

"They also have cars built in the last twenty years."

"And people besides us who are talking on their cell phones," Erin-Olivia says.

She's right. There are plenty of people here, but none of them has a cellphone out or a bluetooth in their ear.


End file.
